First Sewing Attempt:o

When I look at this machine, my palms become a little sweaty and my hands start to shake a little....another words I'm terrified of this little machine!  A grown woman afraid of a sewing machine, who would have thought! It's kind of silly, I know!  I should be afraid of lions, tigers, and bears! Oh, my! 

Once I started my own blog and had the chance to look at others, I saw TONS of others making their own pillows, totes, carrying cases, and the list could go on and on!  All of those blogs, inspired me to try sewing a pillow for my bed.  I thought how simple would that be, right?!?!?
First, I needed to borrow my mama's sewing machine, and she dropped it off this past weekend.  I didn't waste any time because on Monday I made my very 1st pillow....YAY:)

To begin, that's all my mom did was drop it off and said, "Here it is!'  No instruction on how to thread the thread through or what of thread I even needed...yikes!!!!  I don't think my mom knew that I needed a "For Dummies: How to Book" about a sewing machine. So, it totally wasn't her fault.  Plus, my mama is a very buys woman:)

Anyways, I thought to myself, this will be cake trying to thread the thread through!  I had absolutely NO clue how to even start.  I have to tell you my background with a sewing machine and really, there isn't any background....double yikes!!!! I decided well I'll just give my mom a ring and ask her how I do this.  Now, I don't know any vocabulary about a sewing machine at all!  So, my mom was explaining, "Take the bobbit thread and feed it through...."  I was lost at bobbit!!! What!?!? HuH?!?!

I was bound and determined, I could figure this small machine out! After all, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out!  I looked online for the manual and luckily I found one...YAY...one step in the right direction!  I was reading the manual and it said not only did I need one spool of thread, but 2...HUH?!?!  You get the picture of how difficult it was for me to get the sewing machine ready such as: where do I put the thread, where was the gas pedal, how do I go backwards, and all that jazz!  It serisoulsy took me about 1 hour and a half to figure this bad boy out, but I did, and all by myself:):)  I was beeming from ear to ear when I did get it working.  My advice, if this is your first time working with a sewing machine: a. ask someone to show you how to work it and b. after you figure out how to run it use a piece of scrap fabric to test it out:)




Now, on to the exciting and happy part of making my pillow:)

Materials Needed:
1. Fabric scissors
2. Sewing Machine
3. Thread of your choice
4. 2 Omnigrids
5. Fabric (of course)
6. Straight Pins
7.Free Form Exacto Cutting Tool
8. Needle

These are the steps that I followed in order to make my DIY pillow:)

                                   

My Fabric Choice!  I choose one for the front side and one for the back side = multicolored:)

 Step 1:  Cut out your fabric to the dimensions of your liking by grabbing the Omnigrids and place one underneath your fabric and one on top(like so in the picture).  My Omnigrid goes up to 15" and I wanted my fabric to be 19" x 19".  So, I just marked my fabric with my finger where the 15" ended and then moved my Omingrid four more inches down and made a little cut.  In order to make my lines straight, I took my Omnigrid and lined it up on the fabric where I made my little cuts and connected the sides of the Omnigrid with my little cuts.  Then I grabbed my Free form exacto cutting tool to cut a straight edge. I know this isn't the most accurate measuring system, but it worked for what I needed:)  

 This picture is to show the excess of my fabric and how it isn't straight, so I needed to cut off the excess!

The Fabric Should be perfectly cut, like so:)

S

 Step 2:  Use your first piece of cut fabric to use as a "template" for the other side of your pillow.  What you can do is take the other fabric's straightest side and line it up with my already cut fabric or "template".  Make sure you have both fabrics turned inside out when you get to this step:)

Step 3:  Pin the two fabrics together and then cut the other fabric with your exacto tool, so it's the same size as the "template".  Advice: Make sure when you pin you put your pins away from the edge!  I learned this the hard way and had to repin all of my sides because they were too close to the end of the fabric.  I was afraid I would sew over the pins.

The pins aren't far enough away from the edge!

Cut the Fabric.

Pin it first! Make sure they aren't too close to the ends.

Step 4:  Line up your fabric with the line on the plate of your sewing machine to get a straight stitch line.  I didn't do this at first and made for an extremely sloppy stitch line....ooppps! 

Step 5: Make sure you secure the thread by back stitching.  You don't want your thread to unrawel!

Step 6: Continue stitching and once you get to the corner of the pillow, stop, and flip up the Snap.  Then move your fabric so you can begin sewing the other side of your pillow.

Step 7: Once you come to sew the last side of your pillow then leave just enough room where you can grab your stuffing and put the stuffing into.  I left open about 1/5 of the that side of the pillow.

Leave a little of the side open for stuffing!

Step 8: Take your fabric and pull it inside out, so you can see the outside of the fabric:)
Step 9: Start stuffing your pillow.  YAY...it's starting to look like a pillow, finally!!!!!

Step 10: After you've finished with stuffing it full then you need to sew it up by using a blind stitch. You can find the tutorial on how to make a blind stitch on this website: How to Sew a Blind Stitch.  
Here is my very 1st DIY pillow!!!!! YAY, isn't it lovely:)  I know it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but for me it was a HUGE feat!!!  Go Me!!!!  It may not be perfect, but hey it was my first time operating a sewing machine and first time making a pillow:) So, that has to count for something.

Isn't it pur-ty???? You can have a glimpse of the two sides!

It will go well with the other decorative pillows I will soon be making:)

What do you think of my decorative pillow?  Happy Crafting:)

 Was there ever a time when you tried something for the first time and it seemed like you would never finish, but you ended up finishing and it turned out wonderful?

I linked my project at Blue Cricket Design:) and at the 36th Avenue.

Oh, and I'm trying to give thanks for 24 days, check it out on The Lawrences if you have any questions or are curious about it! So, today I am very thankful that I have a loving husband who would do anything for me!  He's been there for me throughout the joyous times and tough times:)  I love him dearly and don't know what I would do without him!!!